


Flight WR2055

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen, Parent-Child Relationship, RipFic, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 06:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16321085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Flight WR2055 took off from Coast City to Central City on April 8th, 1998. It was lost one hour into flight time, never to be seen again, until May 17th, 2018, twenty years later. The miraculous part? Not a single human soul had aged a day, and each and every one of them insisted the flight had gone exactly as planned, except for that minor spot of turbulence…





	Flight WR2055

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Manifest and the Pan American Flight Hoax. Thanks to DarkShade for motivating me to write this. And as always, huge thanks to ams75 for editing!!!

_Flight WR2055 took off from Coast City to Central City on April 8 th, 1998. It was lost one hour into flight time, never to be seen again, until May 17th, 2018, twenty years later. The miraculous part? Not a single human soul had aged a day, and each and every one of them insisted the flight had gone exactly as planned, except for that minor spot of turbulence…_

* * *

 

The knock on the door interrupted Rip yet again. He sighed and focused on the controls, watching the clouds pass by, dip through as they travelled. All he wanted was to go home and see his son. He had taken the last minute flight job on a whim. Now, after two days in Coast City, he was finally able to go home to Central City, see his family again. The knock interrupted his thoughts again.

“Kendra? Can you take care of that? Again?” he asked hopefully. The stewardess nodded at him with a small smile, which Rip returned.

“Yes, Captain Hunter.” Kendra was one of the sweetest, agreeable people Rip knew. And he knew how badly she wanted to go home too, to her mother and baby son Aldus. But all the same, he couldn’t have asked for a better crew member on this last minute trip.

“Miss, please, you need to sit down. It’s not safe to be up right now,” Kendra insisted.

“But you don’t understand-” the British voice was frantic, “if I can just talk to the Captain then-”

“Please take your seat.” Rip all but snapped. He turned and glared at the tiny brunette woman. “Please,” he repeated, a little more in control of his emotions.

Kendra gave her an appeasing smile. “I’ll take you back to your seat now.”

“No, something bad-”

“Come on Miss-”

“Gideon-”

“Miss Gideon, I’ll take you back to your seat now,” Kendra insisted. Rip could still hear her arguing, spluttering out excuses when a crack of lightning appeared in the air. Kendra watched as Gideon’s eyes grew two sizes.

“Well everyone, please buckle up safely, it seems we are going to be experiencing some turbulence. We’ve hit an unexpected storm but I will try my best to navigate around it and we’ll be back on course in no time. Until then, everyone, please take your seats,” Rip said over the intercom. He turned and stared pointedly at Gideon. “Including you.”

Vaguely he heard Kendra take Gideon back to her seat, despite her constant protesting. But Rip’s attention was on the skies. Turbulence, indeed. It was like nothing he had seen before. Lightning forked the sky, dark purple clouds rolled in front of the plane, visibility was getting worse by the second. The plane jostled as Rip tried to fly them safely. He could hear the passengers’ gasps and screams as the plane lurched with Kendra trying to calm them down. For a minute, Rip didn’t think there was any end, then there was a bright flash of white lightning and it was like the skies had cleared up in a second. Suddenly there was nothing but blue skies ahead of them.

“Well everyone, it seems we have cleared the storm. Apologies again, that was a freak storm that showed up out of nowhere. But it should be smooth sailing from here on out and only three hours from our destination,” Rip addressed his flight.

“What was that?” Kendra asked, sticking her head in the cockpit.

“Freak storm, like I said. Came out of nowhere,” he said drily. His mind was elsewhere, still on the strange lightning bolt he had seen.

“You okay?” Kendra asked, noticing how distracted he was.

“Yes, yes, perfectly fine.” He dismissed the thoughts. They didn’t matter. The good news was they were uninjured, and it was his job to make sure he got all of them back on the ground safely as well.

* * *

 

Hours later they began circling the airport for landing. Rip sighed with relief, it had felt like a never ending journey. But finally, it was over. Or it would if the air traffic controllers would let him land.

“Sorry, repeat your flight code again?”

Rip sighed and repeated himself for the third time. “This is flight WR2055, incoming from Coast City looking to land. I don’t mean to be testy but I have fifty people on board and it has been a bit of a long flight and we are ready to land.”

“How long have you been in the air?”

“Flight time was to be around three hours and forty minutes. Actual time closer to four hours and ten minutes due to minor turbulence. May we have a landing strip?”

“Please proceed to strip four. Police and medics will meet you on the air strip.” Finally, finally!

“Wait, what?” Rip frowned but they had already cut the connection. With a sigh, he addressed his passengers. “Apologies again, everyone. We have finally reached our destination but it seems we will have to deal with some more inconvenience. We will be landing but I am afraid you will have to exit on the tarmac. Rest assured, we will make sure all your luggage and belongings are returned to you. Thank you for flying Waverider Airlines.”

Kendra ducked her head into the cockpit. “What is going on out there? The passengers are getting antsy.”

“Not sure. They didn’t seem to know we were coming. Not a problem though. Better take your seat. We’ll be down soon.”

Kendra nodded and went back to her seat to buckle herself in. Rip steadily maneuvered the plane closer and closer to the earth until they hit the ground running. All in all it was a rather smooth landing which he really owed these people after all the turbulence. A half hour later the entire plane had been evacuated and as promised there was on site security, medics, and police cars pulling up. Rip frowned at the sight while Kendra dealt with the murmuring passengers.

Something wasn’t right. Central City was Rip’s home airport, he had left it just two days ago, and it had looked nothing like this. The airport seemed larger, an extra wing had been attached, another landing strip, it even had an outdoor air train system running around the building. If Rip remembered correctly all these renovations were supposed to be done over the course of a decade once they finally got the funding. How did they do it all now?

“I’m looking for Captain Hunter?” A blonde woman exited the police car and scanned the crowd.

“I’m Captain Hunter,” Rip said, stepping forward, Kendra by his side. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the passenger – Gideon? – fidgeting with her hands and biting her lip as she looked around. Clearly, she had also noticed something was off as he and Kendra had.

“I’m Agent Ava Sharpe with the FBI. Could you please tell me about your trip here?”

“Normal trip,” Rip said with a shrug. “We had turbulence extending our sky time by about a half hour, as I told air traffic earlier.”

“Only a half hour?” She raised her brow at him.

“I’m sorry, exactly what is this all about?” Rip demanded. He couldn’t help but feel he was being accused of something. “Why are the police and ambulance here? What exactly is going on?”

Ava sighed and stepped back looking over the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You haven’t been in the air for four hours. Today is May 17th, 2018. You’ve all been missing, presumed dead, for the last twenty years.”

Around them, cacophony and disbelief broke out among the passengers. People were screaming and shaking their heads and Rip had lost control over the crowd, trying to quiet them. What she said couldn’t be true, it couldn’t be. They knew how long they had been in the air. It had only been four hours. Not twenty years, that was ridiculous. Ridiculous!

Ava pulled something out of her pocket, slim and flat. “This is a cellphone, they connect to the internet too, which is actually a pretty big deal these days. Those renovations to the airport were made ten years ago. I’m sorry everyone, but the evidence is in front of you. I don’t know what happened, but we will get to the bottom of it. Until then, please notify Agent Green here of your closest living relative and we will have you returned to your families. I am sure they will be happy to see you.”

Slowly, the agent’s words sank in for Rip as he took in the different technology, the new renovations of the airport, which now that he looked at them, looked old. Twenty years. How was that possible? Beside him, Kendra clung to his sleeve, a hand pressed to her mouth as she thought of her baby. He wouldn’t be a baby anymore but a young man. Rip’s own heart lurched as he thought of his son, Jonas. He would be almost Rip’s age by now. And his wife…had she moved on?

Rip watched as the news hit the crowd in a wave of realization. As they slowly came to terms that some of their loved ones may not be around anymore, that their children, parents, family had aged in their short four hour absence while they looked exactly the same. Everyone had varying degrees of shock etched on their faces. Their expressions contorted with sadness, anger, fear. Nobody understood what was going on.

Except one person. At the front of the crowd, just a few meters away from Rip, stood Gideon. Her expression could almost be described as stoic as she took in the scene. There was no shock on her face, no disbelief. Nothing. Except, perhaps, guilt.

He remembered how frantically she had tried to get his attention before the turbulence, how scared she had seemed, and it all suddenly made sense. Somehow, Gideon was responsible for this time travel catastrophe.

* * *

 

The next twenty-four hours were a blur. News crews had found out about ‘The Miracle Flight’ and passengers had been accosted by interviewers until Agent Sharpe finally got them to leave. Families were alerted of their missing loved ones returning. Tears were shed as people hugged their long lost loved ones. Rip and Kendra stood at the edge, side by side. As the plane’s crew, their responsibility was making sure everyone else had found their family before finally looking for their own. Rip craned his neck, not even sure what he should look for. Even in twenty years, Rip had no doubt Miranda would be every bit as beautiful. He fiddled with his wedding ring worriedly, wondering if his son would even remember him after so long. Kendra tugged on his shirt suddenly and Rip looked up to see another man looking straight at him. It couldn’t be…a minute later, Rip had his adult son’s arms around him.

“Dad.” Even his voice was lower. Jonas was taller than him now. Had a shadow of a beard of his own. Rip hugged back, not knowing what else to do. His son was seven years old when he left, now Jonas was a full-grown proper adult. He stood before him with sandy hair and green eyes like Rip. An adult without his father. “Do you…remember me?” Jonas asked awkwardly.

A part of Rip was happy that his son had managed to pick up some of his traits even without Rip being there for most of his life. He nodded once. “Of course I do. It hasn’t…it was just a few hours for us. I saw you two days ago for me.”

“Right, I mean, look at you.” Jonas pulled back from the hug. “You look like you’re my age.”

“I’m older,” Rip said sharply. For some reason that made Jonas smile at him. “Where’s …where’s your mother?

Jonas’ smile dimmed then. “She’s at home. She didn’t believe, no one believed any of this. I mean the news and then the phone call, I almost didn’t show up until Sara told me to.”

“Sara?”

“Right, Sara.” Jonas stepped aside and for the first time Rip saw a young dark-skinned woman with wild black curls standing timidly behind his son. Jonas put an arm around her waist and pulled her up front. “Dad, this is my fianceé, Sara Diggle.”

Fianceé. Not only had his son grown up, but he was getting married. Rip had missed out on every aspect of his life. He would never get that time back. He swallowed tightly.

“Obviously I haven’t been around, but welcome to the family,” Rip said as cordially as he could. It seemed rather hard when his eyes stung and his throat closed up.

Sara shook his hand with a smile. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Hunter. I’m glad I got the chance. This is-it’s a miracle.”

Everyone kept calling it that. Rip thought it was a curse.

Beside him, he heard Kendra let out a strangled noise. Rip turned to her and saw the distraught look on her face, how it was pinched, and her eyes welled up with tears. He placed a hand on her back, hoping to comfort her somehow. Rip rubbed circles on her back, stopping himself from asking what was wrong. The correct answer was everything. His grown up son standing in front of him was evidence enough of that.

“Aldus,” Kendra whispered brokenly. Rip followed her line of sight and saw a young man he didn’t recognize. He did however recognize the woman in the wheelchair he was rolling. Kendra’s mother, which meant the young man was…now that Rip took a better look at him, he could see Kendra’s eyes, her kindness reflected back at him.

“Oh, Kendra,” he said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. She had left her son a baby with her mother during her work. Being a single mom was tough and she needed the money for her child. But now her baby wasn’t a baby anymore. Rip could relate.

“M-mother.” Aldus stepped forward, his caramel dark skin and coffee brown hair the same as the woman before him. It seemed he had barely gotten anything from his ingrate of a father. “You look as beautiful as your pictures,” he said softly, looking at her in disbelief.

“My baby,” Kendra sobbed. But it wasn’t her baby anymore. All the same she threw her arms around the taller man, crying for the lost years. Aldus stood still before slowly hugging back, unsure what to do with the stranger in front of him. He had always wished for his mother, not just the stories but the real person. Except it wasn’t how he expected it. She barely looked older than him. Beside him, Kendra’s mother reached out and took her daughter’s hand before she dropped down and gave her mother a hug.

“I’m sorry, mom,” Kendra cried, not knowing what to apologize for. There were no words enough to express her gratitude for looking after her son.

“My baby,” her mother echoed her words. “I told them you weren’t dead, I told them! That plane went missing and I just knew, I knew you weren’t dead. Oh, you came back to me sweetheart. Twenty long years, but you came back.”

But it hadn’t been twenty years. Not for them. They had left just a few hours ago, yesterday, and everything had gone upside down. Rip watched the reunion, his sadness matched in Kendra’s eyes. He scanned the crowd and saw similar reactions among all the family members. Again, except for one.

Gideon stood alone with no one by her. They locked eyes for only a second, the guilt prevalent in her gaze. Rip curled his hand in a fist, not knowing how she was responsible, but he knew she was. He wanted his lost twenty years back. Before he could even think any further, Jonas tapped on his shoulder and shook him from his thoughts.

“Want to go home?” Jonas asked.

Rip wasn’t entirely sure what home was. How were they to fit in twenty years later? “Yes.” He wanted to turn the clock back twenty years. He wanted to go home to when his son was a seven year old wanting to be picked up. He wanted to go home. When he looked back at the spot Gideon had been, she was already gone.

* * *

 

Rip sat in the passenger seat after Sara had insisted for the fifth time that she could take the back seat. Everything about cars was different. They were quieter, automated windows, built in electronic maps. According to Jonas there were even electric cars these days. Everything had changed so much in a few days – well, twenty years.

“Are you all right, Mr. Hunter?” Sara asked softly from behind him.

“Fine, I’m fine.” He stopped fidgeting and looked straight ahead. “So,” he cleared his throat, “married, when’s that happening?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound strained like he thought it did.

“Five months. In October. An autumn wedding. Mostly because it was the easiest one to book or we would have done a winter wedding,” Jonas answered as he drove through the city. Even new buildings had popped up while old ones had changed completely.

“Well, you always liked Halloween,” Rip joked. “Did he happen to show you pictures of when he went as a pirate?”

“He did!” Sara said with a laugh as Jonas spluttered and tried to defend himself and his fashion choices. “Well, Miranda did.”

The atmosphere in the car sobered immediately. Rip eyed his son again, the question on the tip of his tongue, what had happened to his wife. Why hadn’t she been there to pick him up too? Instead of asking any of this he tried something else.

“So how did you two meet?”

“About three years ago. I was taking the train to Central from Star and Jonas was on vacation there,” Sara started the story. “I’d never been there and travelling alone was nerve-wracking. Completely bumped into Jonas and caused him to spill coffee on himself. I started crying and he calmed me down and even bought me a coffee. Turned out we were on the same train to Central.”

“It was the gentlemanly thing to do,” Jonas said easily. It would have been the type of chivalry Rip would have taught him for his first date. But he never got to.

“Why the train? Flying is so much faster,” Rip pointed out. Jonas’ jaw clenched.

“I don’t like flying,” he said tightly.

“What, why not? You love-loved stories of my flights and going up in the clouds and-”

“And then my dad was presumed dead on a flight that no one could find,” Jonas snapped. “Mom wasn’t – she didn’t always like me travelling after that and I didn’t like the thought of planes.”

“I’m sorry,” Rip said contritely after a few moments. He hadn’t thought about the repercussions on his family. Just how much time he had missed out on with them.

“It’s fine.” After a few more minutes, Jonas offered, “We’ll have to get you set up in the new time. Agent Sharpe said something about presenting your tickets as valid confirmation of being on the Miracle Flight. Since you’re the Captain, I think your badge will be enough. You can live with me while you’re getting settled in. We’ll get you some new clothes because the nineties are really out of style now, oh, and a mobile. You need one of those.”

All the new information made Rip’s head spin. “What about your mother?”

“We’re visiting them at the house now.”

“Them?” Rip’s heart felt as though it turned to stone and fell to the pit of his stomach. Jonas said nothing. “Jonas? Please. Tell me, I’m your father,” he demanded in his strictest tone of voice. The one Rip used to ground him.

Jonas winced. “Mom and Jonah.”

“Who’s Jonah?”

“Her husband,” Jonas finally said with a sigh. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you like this. She wanted the chance to tell you-”

“She remarried,” Rip whispered.

“You were dead, Dad,” Jonas said softly. From behind him, Sara placed a hand on Rip’s shoulder in comfort. It didn’t help.

He closed his eyes as he remembered their vows, how their love was unbreakable. Miranda was his one and only, and Rip was supposed to be hers too. He couldn’t say that he’d rather have her be a lonely widow, so to speak, but it hurt to know how replaceable he was, in his wife and son’s lives.

“Dad? We’re here.”

The house looked different than he remembered. The porch had a swing on it. The old oak tree had been cut down and replaced by a cherry tree. The house itself had clearly been repainted, it used to be blue and they had discussed making it a creamy white, but now it was a soft yellow. It didn’t look anything like the place Rip had once called home. And then she stepped out. Miranda. She still looked as beautiful as ever. Laugh lines, a few grey hairs, and the tiniest of creases by her eyes, but she hardly looked like she aged a day. Jonas patted his shoulder, urging him to go on. Rip took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Miranda held a hand to her mouth, her eyes glossing over.

“Hi,” he said softly. All he really wanted to do was take her into his arms and spin her around to give her a kiss. Their usual greeting. But time had moved on without him.

“I didn’t think – when I heard it on the news, oh, Rip.” She ran to him anyway, and Rip clung to her tightly, not wanting to let her go for anything.

“Miranda,” he breathed. She pulled away and cupped his face.

“You haven’t aged a day. It’s true, isn’t it? No time passed at all for you.”

Rip nodded. “The flight was only a matter of hours for us. You have to believe me.”

“Oh Rip, how could I not?”

He heard the door open and close and looked up to the porch. Another man, with dark hair and piercing eyes, had stepped out into the scene. This must be Jonah. The man nodded at him, clearly keeping his space out of politeness. Miranda stepped back, moving her hand down his arm and held his hand. Only then did Rip notice her wedding ring was different from his own.

“Rip, this is Jonah, my-”

“Your husband,” Rip said flatly.

Jonah stepped forward and offered his hand. “I know this is under some of the strangest circumstances but it is nice to meet you. I have heard a lot about you over the years from Miranda and Jonas. I’m glad you’re safe.”

Rip stared at his hand blankly. Years. This man had been in his family’s life for years. The thought made Rip’s head hurt. When Rip made no move to take Jonah’s hand, he dropped it. Sara cleared her throat.

“Maybe it would be more comfortable inside?”

“Right. Of course. I made your favourites,” Miranda said. “Do you still like roast beef? Well I suppose you would since you’ve been gone for no time at all from your point of view. Well I made that with the potatoes and vegetables and gravy, just like you like it.”

“I do like it. Just like my mother makes it. Does she know I’m back?” Rip asked. She didn’t live too far away. She might have been too old to make the drive down, but Rip would have to visit her soon then. He wondered if she still lived in the same place or if she had to move into a nursing home. Rip hoped not. There was no one stronger than his mother.

“Rip.” Miranda’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. She and Jonas exchanged a worried look. “Your mother, Mary, died a few years ago. I’m so sorry.”

“What? No, no,” Rip shook his head, “because she was just over last weekend playing with Jonas and-”

“Over twenty years ago,” Jonas reminded him gently.

Rip stared at them in confusion. His mother couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be. “I don’t underst – how?”

“It was a heart attack and we thought she was going to be fine. The doctors said she passed away peacefully in the hospital,” Miranda tried to calm him down. It wasn’t working.

Rip shook his head, his throat closing up and his eyes stinging. “I didn’t get to say goodbye,” he whispered, voice breaking. He shouldn’t have had to say goodbye this early. It wasn’t fair.

Behind him, Sara shared a look with Jonas and his son rested a hand on his shoulder. “I think that’s enough information for today. Mom, do you mind if I just take him back to my place?”

“Yes, I think that would be best,” Miranda agreed. She stepped forward and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry, Rip.”

His mother had always called him Michael. He tore his hand away, still in a state of shock as Jonas and Sara herded him to the car. His life wasn’t his anymore. Everyone had moved on without him, for better or for worse, and Rip was left drowning in all the changes.

* * *

 

Rip placed the flowers on the ground and brushed his fingers over the gravestone. Loving mother and grandmother. How was his mother’s life summarized in four measly words? It in no way fully encompassed all that Mary had done for him. And for the other foster children she had taken in over the years. Rip sighed and pressed his fingers to his lips and then to the cold stone.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Mother,” he whispered as he stood up. It had been two weeks since they had gotten back from their ‘miraculous trip’. Two weeks of Rip ‘calming down’ according to Jonas – and when exactly had his son become so patronizing? – until he was finally allowed out on his own. He was given a mobile just in case he needed to call someone. Jonas had said he’d already programmed in his number and Miranda’s and Sara’s just in case Rip needed it, had even showed Rip how to use the phone, but the flat screen technology was far too complicated for Rip to understand.

He stood up and pulled the mobile out, trying to figure out how to use it when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. She was placing pink and yellow flowers down at another gravestone just a little ways away from Rip. He stepped forward until he stood behind her.

“Ms. Gideon,” he greeted.

Gideon jumped and stumbled as she turned to face him, a hand on her heart. She frowned as she looked at him. “You were the Captain, on the plane, weren’t you?”

“Yes. Rip Hunter.” He held his hand out for her to shake.

“Gideon Rider. Pleasure to see you again, Captain Hunter.” The handshake was firm and brief and Gideon ended it quickly. Rip stuffed his hands in his pockets looking the woman over. He was sure, if anyone knew what happened to them that day, it was Gideon.

“Though not under such circumstances, I’m sure,” Rip said slowly. “Twenty years later.”

“Yes.” Gideon looked down. He watched her swallow nervously, playing with her hands. “Or a few weeks later, depending on how you look at it.”

“My son thinks it’s been twenty years,” Rip said coldly. “So does my wife, or perhaps ex-wife now since she remarried,” he covered his wedding ring that he had unable to part with yet with his other hand, “and my mother. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her. She’s lying six feet underground.”

“I’m sorry,” Gideon said softly. She looked down at the gravestone she was at and touched it reverently. “I understand though, believe it or not. My friend, John Constantine, only friend I really ever had, and he’s dead now.”

That took Rip aback. He hadn’t expected her to lose anything, not when she had caused all this somehow. “What happened?”

“The idiot smoked,” she hissed. “Told him to quit, begged him to. He did, far too late though. Lung cancer. Died two years ago apparently. I feel like I just saw him a week ago, before I left for Coast City.”

“What were you there for?”

“Business.”

“What sort of business?”

“I’m sorry, is this an interrogation?” Gideon snapped at him.

Rip looked down, running a hand through his hair, appalled with himself. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just that this is the worst situation I’ve ever been in. The press, FBI, they all want answers from me since I’m the pilot. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the love of my life remarried, my son who I used to give piggyback rides to is now taller than me and is getting married. My mother’s dead, I’ve had to deal with getting my funds in order, reclaiming my identity, cancelling my death certificate. I haven’t even had the chance to check in on Kendra yet and see how she’s doing. In short, my life is a mess right now.”

“Aren’t we all,” Gideon murmured. She looked around at the empty graveyard. “Well, I don’t think this setting is helping any. Care for a drink?”

“More than you know.”

“Come on then, Captain. I’ll take you to one of John’s favourite places. Or, it used to be I suppose. Should still be open.”

Rip forgot his entire reason for approaching her in the first place and dumbly followed her as she walked a little ahead of him. Their pace was brisk (neither had gotten a car yet) and she led him down three blocks, a right, two lefts, another right, and they came across a little pub. It was probably still too early for a proper drink, but Rip didn’t care anymore. They had been through hell and back. He deserved a drink.

They settled down in a booth in the corner, Rip with his whiskey and Gideon with her beer. Apparently it had been her friend’s favourite, although she wasn’t much of a drinker herself.

“What shall we toast to?” Rip asked.

“Being alive for starters,” Gideon said.

“And those who aren’t. Missed years and opportunities.”

“A second chance,” Gideon corrected. Before he could argue, she clinked their drinks together before taking a gulp of her beer and wincing. “Oh, I forgot how much I hate this stuff.”

“Wouldn’t need the second chance if the first one wasn’t taken away from me,” Rip said quietly, looking at her intently.

“Have something to say?” Gideon asked bluntly.

“What happened to us that day?”

“What makes you think I know?” Her eyes flitted among the empty chairs and few patrons at the bar.

“Because I know you had something to do with it,” Rip hissed as he leaned forward. “What was it?”

“Don’t make false accusations. Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?” Gideon’s eyes flashed at him.

“You’re a terrible liar by the way,” Rip said drily, taking a drink of his whiskey. “You keep fidgeting and looking anywhere but me.” Gideon placed her hands flat on the table to stop herself from fiddling. She took a deep breath.

“Exactly what is it you think I did? Magic? Because I can assure you I am bollocks at it. I only know the one card trick John taught me, and really it’s reserved for parties honestly,” she said loftily. Rip shook his head at her and took another drink. He felt like he needed more whiskey. Gideon eyed him warily. “You might want to slow down there,” she suggested.

“Why? In case you forgot, my life is in shambles right now.”

“It’s not all bad,” Gideon insisted. “I mean, I know you’re under a lot of pressure with the investigation and press-” Rip snorted, it felt more like a witch-hunt than anything. They were trying to blame him for something he had no control or explanation for. Gideon rolled her eyes and ignored him. “Pessimist. I mean, look at this, we get to use our plane tickets to get just about anything we want. Free phone plans, internet, laptop-”

“All technology I can barely use or understand,” Rip reminded her.

“It just takes a little getting used to. You can play games on your phone now!” She took out her own flat-screened phone and showed him. Rip couldn’t help but crack a smile, she looked like Jonas had when he would play his videogames. Or, when he had. Gideon grinned at him. “It’s like our golden ticket!”

Rip shook her head. “Easy for you to say. How do you have the hang of all that anyway?”

“I work – well, worked, at a tech company before this. I was always looking for the next best thing. Electronics have always come easy to me. Sometimes I think I was born too early.”

“Well, you’re clearly in the right time now,” Rip mused. “I hear Artificial Intelligence is becoming a thing. Which is terrifying.”

“I think it’s magnificent. It was one of the things I was working on before – well, before everything.”

“You didn’t rejoin your company?” Rip asked.

“No.” Gideon frowned and looked down at the table, padding over the woodgrain with her finger. “I think it’s best we parted ways for now. I’ve been considering starting up a company of my own, so it’s not like I’ve missed much. What about you? Work?”

Rip sighed. “I talked to the airlines. They want me to go through flight school again, take a physical and everything, even though I keep telling them I just flew two weeks ago. And security is a real pain in the arse now. Maybe by the end of the month I’ll be clear to fly but every time I mention it, Jonas basically shuts down.”

“Jonas?”

“My son. Who is now nearly my age.” Rip needed another drink but Gideon pulled his glass out of the way. He glared at her.

“Drinking is not going to solve your problems.”

“No, but it lets me forget about them. Give it back.”

She moved the glass closer to her. “I think you’re selfish.”

“Excuse me?” He was fairly certain his eyes were bugging out.

“You act like you are the only one that suffered. You’re not. In case you haven’t noticed, everyone I cared for is now dead. I’m alone. And your friend, what did you say her name was, Kendra?” Rip nodded. “What happened to her?”

He sighed guiltily. “She left a baby behind. Came back and he’s all grown up.”

“I’d say she can understand some of what you’re going through,” Gideon said quietly. “You have been looking at this all wrong. You keep wanting your old life back, but that’s gone. I’m sorry, but it’s true. But you do still have a life here. I am sorry that your wife moved on-” Rip unconsciously covered his ring again, “-and that your son grew up. But you still have time. If you can’t be his father, you could always be his friend. Isn’t that what every kid wants eventually?”

“He’s not a kid anymore,” Rip said sadly.

“No, he’s an adult, able to make his own choices, and he chose to come meet you.” She glanced at his phone out on the table. “I’m guessing he gave that to you? I would say you have a good chance at rekindling some sort of relationship, maybe not what you wanted, but it is something. Better than nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “For everything.” Her loss, his accusations. Everything.

Gideon shrugged. “It’s okay. My point is, you were given a second chance, even if you don’t believe it. Don’t waste it.” He nodded slowly, letting her words sink in. She smiled impishly at him then. “And you know, there is one other benefit you are sorely missing out on as Captain of the Miracle Flight.”

“And what’s that?”

Her smile grew even more before she started yelling at the near empty bar. “Everyone this is Captain Rip Hunter. The pilot of Flight WR2055, he deserves a drink, don’t you think? He brought us all back home safely.”

The few people that were there erupted into applause, some going as far as to even stand up. Rip groaned lowly, wanting nothing more than to disappear and melt away. He glared at Gideon, clapping in the seat across from him.

“Stop being so shy,” she lectured him. “Now sit up straight and show your backbone! You’re a famous Captain now, act like it.” Rip grumbled and sat up again, not sure why he was listening to this woman when another glass of whiskey was set down in front of him. He looked up at the waitress smiling at him shyly and thanked her.

“Okay, maybe it’s not all bad,” he accepted. Not if it got him free drinks.

“See? There is a bright side to everything. Even this. Cheers.” She clinked drinks with him. “All you have to do is go out there and reclaim your life. One step at a time.”

* * *

 

The pep talk from Gideon only lasted a matter of weeks before Rip found himself sinking again. He still hadn’t seen Miranda since that first day, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to. Oh, she had called, multiple times, but he never answered. What could he say to his wife who didn’t consider him her husband anymore? Rip looked down at his wedding ring mournfully and took another drink. Alcohol really was his only friend now.

Jonas had asked him tentatively before if he was going to take off the wedding ring. How could he? Rip was still married as far as he was concerned. He made those vows till death did they part. Except, he supposed, his death came earlier for Miranda. Falsified, but it still happened. And then there was Jonas. His son who wasn’t his son anymore. No, Jonas had grown up to be a fine young man without Rip’s help or guidance. In fact, he relied more on his son in this brave new world more than the other way around. Shared a flat with him, bought Rip whatever he needed, blew off dates with his fiancé to be with him. It was all too much and not nearly enough. So he took another drink. The only good thing about being the pilot of the Miracle Flight meant that he got free drinks. Lots and lots of free drinks. Which was good, considering all the investigations still hadn’t cleared in the last couple of months and he still didn’t have his proper pilot’s license back. Another reason to drink. Before he could take another swallow of his whiskey, a hand stopped him and pulled the glass away.

“I think that’s enough, Dad.” Jonas sat down next to him at the bar, Sara behind him, with her wild curls everywhere. Rip frowned at them.

“What’re you doing here? Are you old enough – oh, no, wait. You are.” Rip looked down miserably. He had never gotten to buy his son his first drink. Vaguely, he wondered if Jonah had done this for Jonas. If they had toasted to turning twenty-one. Perhaps a toast for Rip too.

“I am here because you weren’t at home and I was worried. I know you come here a lot and you are currently drunk off your ass.”

Strange, Rip had always thought his son would keep the British accent he and Miranda had. Instead he sounded American. Was that something else he picked up on from Jonah? “A – a friend showed me this place. Apparently it was around twenty years ago and still is. According to the bartender, it’s barely even changed. Isn’t that great?” He slapped his thigh with a grin, leaning forward to Jonas. Finally, something that stayed the same!

Jonas, however, did not seem to find it that amazing. With a sigh, he got to his feet and pulled his father up. “Come on, I think you’ve had enough, dad.”

“What? No. I have another drink coming soon,” Rip protested.

“The only drink you need right now is water. Sara, could you?” Jonas trailed off and looked back at her.

She nodded and headed off to the other end of the bar to get the bartender’s attention and track down a bottle of water. Rip watched her intently, and then back at Jonas, how he watched Sara, with a soft look in his eyes, never quite letting her out of his sight even as he held onto Rip.

“You really love her, don’t you?” he murmured.

Jonas turned to him. “I do. Why, don’t you like her?” he asked worriedly.

Rip shook his head. “No, I mean I do. I think she’s brilliant from what I’ve seen and kind.”

“She is. All of that and more.”

“And I wasn’t here for it,” Rip lamented. “I wasn’t here for any of it.” He sat down in his chair, suddenly feeling terribly sober and sad.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” Jonas frowned and touched his shoulder in concern.

“You grew up. You are my little boy. Were my little boy two months ago, and I come back and you’re all grown up. It’s not fair. How much I missed in your life. Your mother’s life. Everything.”

Jonas swallowed. “I never forgot you,” he said quietly. “Mom would tell stories about you all the time. How you two met, the college days, you when she gave birth to me. And I do remember somethings. Like how we used to play airplane, and you’d pick me up, zoom me around the backyard.”

“You’d laugh,” Rip remembered with a bittersweet smile.

Jonas nodded. “I loved it. Loved waiting for you to come back and tell me where you’d been. You used to bring me souvenirs I think, and I would keep them like little treasures.”

Rip remembered, they used to be thrown in the closet after playtime had finished. Now, in the flat, Jonas had an entire shelf dedicated to all the little trinkets Rip had bought him. He’d brought another snow globe for his son this time, but it had never seemed like the right time to give it. Not with missing twenty years and barely knowing the man in front of him when he’d known the child so well. Did Jonas even like snow globes anymore? Rip never saw him collect anything in general anymore.

“Mom waited a long time before she started dating again,” Jonas continued softly. “Even then, it wouldn’t last.”

“Something must have changed obviously,” Rip said bitterly. “She remarried.”

“We thought you were dead.”

“I know.” It was why he couldn’t even be properly mad about it. Miranda hadn’t cheated, she had mourned him. Hell, Rip had seen his empty grave already. Loving father and husband. His entire life represented by that tiny dash. He hated it.

“Jonah is a good man. He’s not my dad though. He knows that. You are,” Jonas said firmly.

“Not a good dad though. I missed it all. I didn’t get to watch all your first days of school. Didn’t get to teach you how to ride a bike. Or drive a car. I missed your first date, first crush, first kiss. I missed it all. And now, coming back, you were fine without me.” That was probably what hurt the most. In a way, he was happy they were able to move on, live their lives and be happy. But it hurt that Rip couldn’t have seen that for himself. “I was supposed to come home and be greeted by my wife with a spinning hug and kiss and my son running out and grabbing my legs. Not this. It wasn’t supposed to be this.”

Jonas sat down next to him again. “I know. I know none of this is what you had planned. I know how unfair it is because I lived the twenty years without my father,” he said, finally a tinge of anger in his voice instead of the never-ending patience and understanding. So there was some Rip in him after all. “Yeah, maybe my life would have been easier with you in it. I wouldn’t have spent every birthday as a child wishing and wishing that you’d come home. Wouldn’t have gotten so invested in plane conspiracies and the Bermuda Triangle and other unexplained phenomenon. Hell, maybe I could have been cool then.”

“Unlikely, you’re my son,” Rip said drily, a teasing lilt to his voice.

Jonas nudged him playfully with a roll of his eyes. “Shut up, I’m taller.”

“And I’m older.”

“Barely.”

“Still your father, and I can still ground you,” Rip warned in his stern voice. Jonas grinned and rolled his eyes, the smart-aleck. That must have been from Miranda. Okay, maybe a little Rip.

“Yeah, yeah, haven’t heard that one before,” Jonas joked. “See, you’re still my dad.”

Rip sighed. “Not the same though.”

“No, but maybe it’s a good thing. After all, you’re still young, Dad. We can actually do stuff together without you needing to go home and take a nap or something.”

“Your mother lost complete control of you in my absence clearly. Perhaps it was best that I missed your teenage years.”

“Probably. Not that Mom let me get away with much.”

Rip hummed. No, he didn’t think so. Not with everything they had pulled in their youth. They would have been prepared for a teenage boy together.

“Water!” Sara returned with a bottle of water in her outstretched hand for Rip. He took it with a low thanks and chugged it down. Sara beamed at him and kissed Jonas. “Ready to go then?”

“Seems I don’t really have a choice.” Rip groaned and stood up. Immediately, Sara looped her arm through his while Jonas stood at his other side. Together, the trio exited the bar.

“I’m really happy you’re back,” Sara said quietly. “Because it makes Jonas happy. Before, it was like this part of him was always missing. It bothered him how the plane disappearing was never solved.”

“We still don’t know why,” Rip reminded her.

“No, but now he doesn’t need to. Because he has you back, Mr. Hunter. All those crazy theories and hobbies, they were all to fill a hole of where you were. And now he knows. Nothing else matters.”

“You do, to him,” Rip told her gently. “I’m glad he found you.”

“I am too, Mr. Hunter.”

Rip cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You know, we look practically the same age, you might as well call me Rip.”

“Okay, Rip.” Sara grinned and Rip could see why she and his son got along so well. They balanced each other out. Sara’s happiness was a calm lull like the river with a few rapids every now and then. Jonas was more like a firecracker, explosive and outreaching to all around him. But not constant. Not until he met Sara. Rip smiled and squeezed his soon to be daughter-in-law’s hand. “Always wanted a daughter honestly.”

“I can hear you!” Jonas yelled.

“You were the first try. Clearly didn’t happen. Though, I think there might still be some old pictures of him in pink frilly dresses somewhere.”

“You have to show me,” Sara demanded.

Rip laughed as Jonas spluttered. “Mom made me wear them.”

“You didn’t complain much.”

“I was like three. Besides, kinda liked the pink.”

“It’s a good colour on you,” Sara said diplomatically and Jonas grinned and kissed her again.

Perhaps he had missed a lot, but at least he was here for this. To see his son happy and in love. It was something at least.

* * *

 

Rip sighed and turned off the ignition, grateful Jonas had let him take his car. It was an escape if he ever needed one. When he got out of the car, Miranda was already waiting for him on the front porch. Rip gave her a half-hearted wave (his right hand, no ring on it) and steeled himself. He had finally, finally accepted Miranda’s calls and worked up the courage to visit her and talk to her properly. Swallowing nervously, he walked up the path to the front steps and Miranda’s arms were around him before he knew it. Well, she had never been shy.

“I was beginning to think you would never pick up.”

“Well, it’s different. Technology and everything,” he lied. Everything. Definitely everything. Like how his wife was married to someone else. “Where’s um…where’s Jonah?”

“He’s gone for the day. He knows how important this is to me and didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Right. Well, I wasn’t planning on staying long as it was,” Rip assured her, trying to ignore how her eyes dimmed. That wasn’t fair. She was the one that had moved on. Not him.

“Well, I’ll have to thank Jonas for telling you to come visit.” Miranda took a seat on the swing and gestured for Rip to sit next to her. Slowly he moved and took a seat, leaving enough space between them.

“He badgers and nags. Gets that from you,” Rip quipped, trying for a smile.

It must have worked because Miranda smiled back. “You mean you. With your never-ending lectures.”

“Weren’t you the one with long, important, empowering speeches about love and family?”

“Yes, I was. Long time ago now,” Miranda said wistfully. For the first time, it occurred to Rip just how much time had passed for her. He could see the wrinkles by her eyes more clearly with her smile. Her hands that poured tea for him were weathered some, softer and weaker than when he held them during their vows. She had aged and he had not.

“Wasn’t for me. It was practically yesterday.” Few months now. But still.

Miranda held his hand in hers suddenly. “You don’t know how hard it was to move on.”

“I can imagine.” He seemed to be finding a hard time of it now. Even if it was under different circumstances.

“When they came to my door, told me what happened, Rip, I was heartbroken. I had to go about it alone. Grieving for you, raising Jonas, looking after your mother. It was hard.”

“I know. I know, and I am sorry I put you through all that,” he whispered, cupping her face like he used to. Out of instinct she leaned into his touch. “It was only a matter of hours for me. I remember I called you from the hotel, and I was going to come home. I did, just twenty years too late. And everything’s changed.”

“Including me,” Miranda said sadly. “Rip, I do love you. I will always love you. There will always be a place for you in my heart. My first love and husband, father of my child. You don’t think I could ever properly move on from that, do you?”

“Seem to have done a pretty good job,” he muttered bitterly. Dropping his hand, he cleared his throat and forced himself to be mature. “It was twenty years for you, Miranda. Of course you moved on. You were safe, happy, raised our son into a fine young man. And yes, I am happy that there was someone to look after you, to love you in return.”

“Are you?”

Rip considered her question seriously before turning to her again. “Yes.” He held her hand in his again. “I love you and I will never stop. But I am not sad that you found love again.” He brushed back a loose strand of hair, having escaped from her braid, and pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m sad because we promised each other forever, the rest of our lives, till death do we part, and you kept your promise. I just wasn’t here for it. I’m sad because I wasn’t here to help raise our son, wasn’t here to wake you up every morning with kisses. I missed out on your laughter, our ridiculous arguments. I didn’t get to grow old with you. I missed out on our forever.”

“Maybe you just have another adventure out there,” she whispered.

“It was supposed to be with you.”

“Adventure of a lifetime.”

Rip nodded. “Did he give you that?” he asked, desperate to know she was treated well. “Does he make you so happy your heart could soar?” As happy as Rip had made her once. Slowly, guiltily, she nodded. Rip swallowed, ignoring the stinging in his eyes. “Good, good,” he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat and stood up unceremoniously. There was nothing left to say.

“Rip-”

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “You deserve the world and more, Miranda. I’m glad you got it, even it couldn’t have been with me,” he whispered, repeating his vows to her. Even if it was supposed to have been with him.

“You gave me that and so much more. From the day you married me, giving me our son, you made me happy even when I was angry,” Miranda said. “I love you, Rip. Forever and always.”

“I love you too.” He cupped her face lovingly, wanting nothing more than to kiss her one last time. So he did. It was soft and tender and completely innocent, but even then his heart stuttered as he could feel the intensity of Miranda’s love for him. When he pulled back there were tears in her eyes too. “You are as beautiful as the day I married you,” he whispered. With one final kiss to her forehead, he straightened himself.

“Is that it?” Miranda called as he walked down the steps.

Rip stopped and turned. He shrugged at her. “You’re not my wife anymore.” He supposed they’d have to get a proper divorce now that he was alive again. Rip wondered if there was any said situation such as ‘falsified accounts of death’ that could break a marriage.

“We could be-“

“Don’t say it! Not now,” Rip begged her. It still hurt like a knife through his heart to see her. He watched as Miranda’s face dropped again and tried to reassure. “Not now, but one day. Probably. After all, we have our son’s wedding to deal with.” He did her best to give her a smile which she returned. “I wish you nothing but the best, Miranda. I always have. And I hope you are always happy.” He stepped up and kissed her cheek before walking away. This time, he didn’t look back.

It wasn’t until he was in the safety of his flat (Jonas’ flat) that he finally let himself breathe, break apart. He looked at the wedding ring still adorning his finger and pulled it off. He didn’t have the heart to part with it completely, but he didn’t think it right to wear it anymore either.

Times had changed. It was time for him to do so as well.

* * *

 

Rip watched Kendra carefully as she watched her son and Jonas. There was a frown on her face, a sadness in her eyes that had been there since they got back. He reached out and squeezed her hand tightly.

“Doing okay?” he murmured. They were more than coworkers, (now that they had both properly been reinstated to some extent by the airlines) they were friends. Had been for a long time even without the twenty year jump ahead.

“I don’t know how to do this. All I want is to hold my baby, instead he’s a grown man.”

“I get how that feels.” Rip looked over at Jonas, remembering when his son had actually been his son. A child, smaller than him, a proper age difference separating them.

“When I said we’d set up playdates, this isn’t exactly what I mean,” Kendra said wryly.

“Neither did I.” He shook his head and drank his water as they waited for their boys to return with their burgers.

“I remember when I first found out I was going to be a mom. I mean, yeah, I was terrified about doing it alone after Carter walked out on me. But there was this small part of me that was so ecstatic. I went crib shopping and baby clothes, and the locks, and his baby blanket.”

“I remember,” Rip said softly, squeezing her hand when he saw the misty look in her eyes.

“I thought, if I did anything right, it would be as a mother. I could feel it in my bones that it was what I was meant to be. And he loves me so much, I know he does. But he doesn’t even know me. He knows stories, pictures, I didn’t get to raise my child at all. What kind of a mother does that?”

“Shhh. It isn’t your fault. None of this is.” He drew her into his arms and hugged her, rubbing her back. “The authorities never figured out what it was that sent us forward, what messed us up. None of us could have known it would have happened. And you’re doing the best you can.”

Kendra sniffled and hugged him tight before letting go. “I’m sorry. I’m a downer.”

“Not like I’ve been much better.”

“How are you? I mean with Jonas and Miranda-” Kendra stopped when she saw Rip wince slightly. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. We signed the divorce papers. Now that I am legally alive, I am now also legally single again.” Something he still wasn’t quite sure he liked.

“Too early to see anyone?”

“Much, much too early,” Rip said warningly. It had only been a few weeks and before that he had been very much happily married. He still missed his ring at times. Every morning it felt like he was missing something. Just then, the door opened and a familiar face walked in. She looked around, about to make a beeline to the counter when she caught sight of Rip. He gave her a small wave and Gideon smiled back before wandering over to them.

“Captain Hunter,” she greeted kindly. “And you were the flight attendant, Kendra?” Kendra nodded and crinkled her brow, trying to place where she had seen the other woman before. “Gideon,” she introduced herself again, a hand to her chest. “I won’t blame you for not remembering. You had more people to attend to and probably a chaotic life after we landed.”

“That’s one word for it,” Kendra muttered. She cleared her throat, remembering herself. “So you were on the Miracle Flight too? I mean, of course you were.”

“Yes, I was.”

“How’s settling in going for you then?” Rip asked her kindly.

“Slowly. Found a place that I liked. I’ve been doing some freelance before I start interviewing for a proper job again.” As she spoke Gideon sat down opposite of them.

“Wait, I remember you now!” Kendra said somewhat giddily. “You were the nervous flier-”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I was nervous-”

“You knocked on the door like five times, I thought Rip was going to eject you from the plane or something!” Kendra joked.

Gideon blushed and looked at the table while Rip spluttered and tried to reassure her. “I wouldn’t have.” Mostly because he was a good person, but also because there had been no mechanism to do so.

“Yes, well, perhaps I was a little nervous that day,” Gideon admitted.

“Maybe you have a sixth sense or something. Knowing something would go wrong and we’d end up in the wrong time,” Kendra said.

“Yes, maybe.” Gideon’s voice was quiet, she avoided eye contact. She gave all the signs that made Rip think she was guilty of it in the first place. There was a somersault in his stomach that made him still think she was hiding something from them. “Anyways, while I’m here.” Gideon reached across the table and grabbed Rip’s phone despite his protests. She shushed him and took a picture of herself before typing in her number and texting herself. Then she handed it back to him. “There, now we can talk about our insane life experiences together.” Not to leave Kendra out, she did the same with her phone. “Deal?”

“Yeah, sure.” Rip rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face as he looked at her picture. He wasn’t entirely sure the woman wasn’t somewhat clinically insane, but she was entertaining.

“Good, because I want in on the free drinks!”

“They are great,” Kendra agreed while Rip laughed.

“Hey Dad.”

The trio looked up to see Jonas and Aldus returned. Gideon apologized and got up in a rush so they could take their seats.

“Gideon, this is my son, Jonas. And Kendra’s son, Aldus,” Rip introduced them. “Gideon was a passenger on our flight.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Gideon said, an amused look on her face. “Sorry, all I can think about is how young you are in comparison really. I mean, technically speaking, by our birthdates I’m old enough to be your mother.” She shook her head. “And that would be why coming back and trying to date would be so hard for me,” she muttered to herself.

“Unless you dated someone else from the flight,” Jonas pointed out. Something in his voice made Rip frown at his son. He couldn’t be…

“Yes. Do keep your eyes peeled for any eligible bachelor who’s twenty years younger than what they should be,” Gideon joked. “Oh, is that a milkshake?”

“Chocolate, want to try?” Jonas offered.

“That’s mine!” Rip snapped and took it. “You’re not so old that I can’t ground you still.”

“Aww, Captain, won’t you share?” Gideon teased.

“I got you back safely. A little late, but still, we’re alive. I believe I’ve done my civic duty,” Rip said drily.

Gideon shook her head, a small smile on her face. “In which case I’ll go get one for myself. It was nice seeing you both again, and meeting you two. You have my number, call me. Or text if you can figure it out, old man.”

Gideon walked away to the counter while Rip continued to splutter and huff. Kendra rubbed his arm and tried to calm him down.

“She seems nice,” Jonas said leadingly.

“Nice enough.” She had after all clued Rip in on all the free drinks he could get.

“You gonna call her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Probably not.

“I think you should. She’s nice. You could use nice.”

Rip eyed his son who merely shrugged at him. He looked back at Gideon and shook his head. He wouldn’t bother her, no need to call her.

* * *

 

“Dad, what are we doing here?” Jonas asked warily. He slowed his steps down but Rip simply tugged him along.

“Consider it an early wedding present.”

“Wedding presents are supposed to be something I like! I like being safe on the ground. Both my feet, planted safely on the earth.” Jonas shook his head again as he stared at the small plane in front of them. There was no way he was getting in that.

“Too bad. It’s ours for the next couple of hours. And Sara already agreed in letting me have you for the day. Even your mother thinks it’s a good idea for you to get over this ridiculous fear of yours.”

“It’s not ridiculous,” Jonas muttered. “And since when do you talk to Mom?”

Rip shrugged. “We’re giving it a try.” They were friends long before they were together. It was slow and awkward, but they both loved Jonas so he had hope. “Now, stop whining and get in. Or I really will ground you.”

Jonas grumbled about how Rip always used that excuse and made his way onto the plane. He closed his eyes and waited in pure terror as Rip readied the plane for takeoff. His father made sure he was strapped in properly and had his headpiece on before announcing they were good to go. Jonas kept his eyes closed as the plane went down the runway, faster and faster, and then there was a swooping feeling in his stomach.

“You can open your eyes. We’ve reached maximum altitude.” Rip informed him a few minutes later.

“Already?”

“Two seater planes only go up about thirty thousand feet or so. Only takes ten minutes to get up here. Open your eyes. Jonas. Take a look outside. It really isn’t that bad.”

Jonas cracked an eye open and looked out the window. He could see the crop fields, some far away buildings, the other little planes they had left behind on the ground. He let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.

“This is my first time off the ground,” he said quietly.

“I know.” Rip was grateful he could give his son this one small experience. “Perhaps, when I said this was a wedding present, I meant more from you to myself.”

Jonas smiled at him. “It’s not so bad. I could barely even feel the lift off. And I always expected more turbulence in a plane.”

“It’s a nice day. And I am an excellent pilot,” Rip responded cockily. It made Jonas laugh.

They flew around for a while. Jonas pointed out the different places that had popped up while Rip had been gone. They talked easily until Rip announced it was time to go back down again. Jonas found himself somewhat disappointed at that.

“Make sure your seat belt is tight. Landing is a little rougher than takeoff,” Rip warned.

It was. The landing was jolting. Jonas found himself pressed against his belt as Rip slowed the plane down the runway. But he wasn’t scared anymore. His father had piloted all fifty people on the Miracle Flight to safety. Jonas knew Rip would look after him. Especially with his wedding only a month away.

“I hope, despite the initial fear, you managed to have a little fun,” Rip said as the exited the plane.

Jonas wobbled a bit, back on solid ground but nodded. “Yeah, eventually. Maybe we could do this again?” he asked tentatively.

“I would like that very much, Jonas.” Rip smiled softly and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Jonas took a deep breath. “You know, I’ve been thinking, for a while actually. Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you be the best man at my wedding?”

Rip stopped in his track and looked at Jonas seriously. “Cutting it a little close. Are you telling me you didn’t already choose someone or that you’re kicking out the previous person just to accommodate your old man?”

“I’m saying that I got what just about every little boy dreams of. I get to have my dad as my best friend. And it would mean a lot to me if you were there by my side at the wedding.”

Rip swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. “I would be honoured, Jonas. Completely honoured.”

“Good.” Jonas sighed in relief and threw his arms around his father. “Also, you need to find a date for my wedding. And it can’t be Kendra.”

Well then. Bollocks.

* * *

 

The knock on the door pulled Rip from his thoughts. He wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans and went to answer it. He had no reason to be nervous. It wasn’t anything serious. Just a favour between friends. More like acquaintances, really. But perhaps friends one day. Nothing more though.

“Captain Hunter,” Gideon greeted with a smile when he opened the door. “Can I come in?” she asked after a minute of awkwardly standing at the door.

“Yes, please.” He stepped aside and let her walk in, closing the door behind her. “You can sit, if you like.”

“Thank you.” Gideon did just that and put her purse on the floor before turning to look at him thoughtfully. “So, you finally called me. I can’t help but wonder why when it’s been weeks.” If she looked or sounded nervous, Rip dismissed it as a reflection of his own feelings.

“I have a question for you, well more of a favour to ask of you really,” he started awkwardly. Gideon raised an eyebrow at him and motioned for him to continue. “My son Jonas is getting married in a couple weeks.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks. And I’m the best man and I need a date.”

Gideon blinked, waiting for the rest. When he didn’t continue she parted her lips in realization. “So this is you asking me out on a date?”

“No. This is me asking for a favour,” Rip corrected.

“Of me being your date. A woman you barely know and don’t call or text or-”

“Yes or no, Gideon?” Rip asked with a groan. Why did he ask her?

“Why me? Why not Kendra? Or, I assume, your ex-wife?”

“Ex-wife is remarried. Kendra is going with Aldus and Jonas won’t let me ask her.” In truth, it had been Jonas that had suggested he ask Gideon in the first place.

“Ah, last place choice, that makes more sense then,” Gideon joked lightly. Rip grimaced but couldn’t very well correct her when it was basically the truth. Not because he didn’t like her, well after the initial annoyance and blame, but he didn’t know her all too well.

“Yes or no?”

“No,” Gideon said after a long pause.

“Oh.” Rip’s heart dropped. He knew he wasn’t that smooth to begin with. It was a miracle Miranda had fallen in love with him when she did. But he had really counted on Gideon saying yes. She truly was his last resort. “I see.”

“You don’t,” Gideon said quietly with a shake of her head. She bit her lip and turned to face forward. Her eyes roamed over the photos Jonas had put up: him and his mother, him and Jonah, him and Sara. None with Rip other than the one where Jonas was a five year old. “I think you were right,” Gideon whispered.

Rip frowned and moved to sit on the arm of the sofa, leaving an empty seat between them. “About?”

Gideon swallowed. “I caused this,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“Be specific,” Rip said shortly. His heart raced, he could feel the blood pumping through his veins, and he tried very, very hard not to start yelling like he so wanted to. She couldn’t be saying what he thought she was. Not after denying it months earlier, making Rip feel like a fool to even think it.

“The time lapse, jump, whatever you want to call it, us ending up twenty years in the future. My fault.”

“How?”

“It’s complica-”

“How?”

“I was working on a piece of technology. I turned it off before the flight just in case, but something in the storm restarted it, I think. And then it just wouldn’t stop,” Gideon said guiltily.

“You tried to warn us,” Rip remembered. And he hadn’t listened. “You knew this would happen?”

Gideon shook her head. “It wasn’t intended for time travel. I think somehow it interacted with the lightning charges, opened a wormhole of some sort. I don’t know how. It’s beyond my comprehension as well. I’ve been trying these past few months to figure out if you were right, and how to fix it.”

“Fix it?”

“Send us back. To our proper time so none of this ever happened,” Gideon explained.

Rip gasped and stood up, started pacing the floor as he ran a hand through his hair. “Fix it. You want to fix it,” he mocked her, ignoring her wince. “You brought us all here, caused this entire international mess of a matter, and now you think you’re just going to fix it like cleaning up milk off the floor?”

“I didn’t think it would be easy. And it was an accident-”

“Oh, an accident. Well that makes it just fine then!” Rip stood and glared at her. “Your little accident cost people their lives. We lost loved ones coming back. My wife remarried because of you, grieved for me. I didn’t get to raise my son – neither did Kendra!”

“Which is why I have to fix this, all this!” Gideon cried as she stood up to meet him eye to eye. “I am trying to do the right thing.”

“Yeah, well it’s about twenty years too late for that,” Rip snapped at her.

Gideon looked down guiltily. “I still want to try,” she said quietly. “What else am I supposed to do?”

“Turn yourself in to Agent Sharpe.” The words left his mouth before Rip could even process what he said. Gideon’s eyes widened in fear and she shook her head.

“If I fix this, then there’s no need to do that. It will never have happened,” she insisted.

Rip took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and think logically about it. “You don’t even know what ‘fixing’ this will entail. It could be worse than what we have now. Or simply dooming others to the same fate. You don’t know, Gideon.”

“Let me worry about that. All I need to know is,” she tentatively took a step forward, “if you had the chance to do it over, to not skip the twenty years, to go back, would you take it?”

“Yes,” he said instantly.

“Then that’s all I need to know.” Gideon stepped away and picked up her purse. “I imagine the offer to accompany you is rescinded given the new information, so I’ll let myself out. Congratulations to your son. And I’m sorry, Rip.”

Gideon gave him one last cursory glance before leaving his flat. Alone, he dropped to the couch as he tried to process what had just happened. He couldn’t.

* * *

 

The wedding went off without a hitch. The dress was beautiful, so were the tearful vows, Rip remembered to give the rings on time. All in all, it was spectacular. Meeting the bride’s parents had been a little awkward at first, given how Rip looked young enough to be the happy couple’s brother rather than the groom’s father. Still, they got on well enough, and Rip managed to even maintain a polite conversation with Jonah during the reception. Of course, why Jonas thought it would be all right to seat him next to his ex and her new husband was beyond Rip. It still hurt. There was a clinking of glass and Rip looked up. It was time for his speech.

“Ahem.” He stood up and awkwardly cleared his throat. He was never one for speeches, never felt very good at them. It was why he avoided the media for so long. Rip didn’t want to make any statements. Even now, already he could hear the quiet murmur going through the crowd as they recognized them. “I think some of you may recognize me as the pilot of Flight WR2055, also known as the so-called Miracle Flight.” He saw some nods and continued.

“For me, it wasn’t a miracle at all. It took me away from my son here.” Rip pointed to Jonas. “The light and joy in my life. Jonas was raised by his mother, and step-father, in my absence. And as you can see, they did a tremendous job with him. Even without me, he managed to grow up into this incredible young man. If I had to miss twenty years of your life, Jonas, I’m glad it was to come back and see you like this. Successful and happy, and surrounded by those you love.”

Rip smiled at Sara. “And I am so, so happy that you managed to find Sara. I know what it means to find that special someone and just know, you’re meant to be with them forever.” Here, he paused and gave Miranda a small smile which she returned sadly. “Of course, sometimes life has other plans. But I hope that will never diminish your love for each other. If anything, it should only flourish and grow in the coming years.” Rip raised his glass of champagne. “Even if he is all grown up, look after him and love him well, Sara. Jonas is always going to be my little boy. And welcome to the family. Here’s to the happy couple.” The crowd cheered and toasted their drinks, celebrating the newlyweds.

“That was a really nice speech. Thanks, Dad,” Jonas said after Rip sat down again.

“I have something for you,” Rip said nervously. From under the table he pulled out a gift bag, stuffed with colourful tissue paper. “It’s not so much a wedding present as it is a return gift, albeit twenty years late.”

Jonas frowned but opened it anyway while Sara talked to their guests. “My snow globe,” he said in awe as he pulled it out of the paper. Jonas shook it up, watching the little white flakes swirl around inside the glass ball. “It’s perfect.”

“I never forgot,” Rip said quietly. “Just never seemed like a good time to give it.”

“No time like the present,” Jonas said with a grin. He hugged Rip tightly. “Thanks, Dad. And I just might have something, or rather someone, for you too.” This time it was Rip’s turn to frown as he pulled away. Jonas gestured to one of the tables of guests. “You should ask your date to dance.”

Rip looked across the room and saw Gideon sitting quietly at the table, dressed in red. “What is she doing here? I told you she said no.”

“And then she said yes to me. Come on, Dad. It’s my wedding. Go ask her to dance!” Jonas, having all the maturity of a full grown ten year old, pushed Rip out of his chair and refused to let him sit down again. Huffing, Rip strode over to Gideon’s chair.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked stiffly.

Gideon looked up in surprise. “Captain Hunter. I’m not entirely sure I’ll be very good.”

It was an out. Even Rip could see that. But something inside him told Rip to give her another chance. “I’ll lead then.” He held out his hand for her. Together the two glided to the dance floor, and Rip held her as they waltzed to the slow song. “I didn’t think you’d be here,” he said quietly.

“Your son is very convincing.”

“Gets it from his mother.”

“I won’t stay long,” Gideon promised. “But it seemed rude to say no to the groom.”

Rip nodded. “You can stay, if you want to.”

“I thought you would still be angry with me.”

“I am. Or maybe not. I don’t know,” Rip said honestly. “What you did, it cost me my life. A lot of lives.”

“I know,” Gideon said softly.

“But disappearing on that plane, it was also a life changing moment for my family,” Rip continued. “As much as it hurt us all, some people got more. Jonah met Miranda. Sara met my son at a train station because he was too scared to take the plane. Because of what happened to me. Maybe we wouldn’t even be at this wedding right now if I hadn’t been on that plane.”

“So what does all that mean? You think I shouldn’t do it? Find some way to reverse what happened to all of you?”

“I’m saying I don’t know anymore,” Rip said honestly. “A month ago I would have said yes. For a long time I would have. But it’s been five months. Maybe this is just meant to be our new normal.”

“It’s not fair, is it?” Gideon asked in a hushed voice. “You miss out on your son’s life. Lose your wife. Your mother. I ruined your life.”

“Now, now, don’t give yourself that much credit,” Rip said awkwardly, seeing how upset she was. “I’m sure I’d be completely capable of buggering it up on my own without your help.”

Gideon laughed slightly and sniffled. “Thank you. You’re sweet. And forgiving. You are a very good man, Captain Hunter.”

“I try to be,” Rip murmured. His eyes scanned the crowd and he saw Kendra looking sadly at her adult son. “Which is why I need to tell you to keep trying to find a solution to this. For us. Or at least those who want another second chance.”

Gideon looked up at him in confusion. “But you just said-”

“I know what I said, but there were others on that flight too. Others that might have a different opinion than me.” Not that he was entirely sure what his opinion even was anymore. Two weeks ago he was livid with Gideon, and over time the anger had faded away into the dull ache that persisted. But here, now, at the wedding, there was a strange lightness to his heart. That at least he could be here for this, for his son’s wedding. “My point is that you were brilliant – and stupid – enough to get us here, so clearly you’re the only one that can take us back. If we so choose to.”

“You might just be the most confusing and infuriating man I have ever met, Captain Hunter,” Gideon said, with a shake of her head and a smile on her lips.

Rip shrugged easily. “Isn’t the first time I’ve heard that one.” Miranda had mentioned it on more than one occasion.

“I’m sure.” She smiled at him properly this time. Rip somehow found himself smiling back. “I’ll let you know, if and when I have a solution,” she said. “I owe you that much.”

“I think you owe me a little more than that,” Rip said lightly.

“Excuse you, Captain?” Gideon raised her brow at him.

“Well, you did ruin my life after all,” Rip said loftily, shrugging his shoulders.

“And what would you like in reparation?”

“Have a drink with me.” The words left Rip’s mouth before he could stop them, even realize he was thinking them. “As a friend, I mean. After all, if you’re going to change our lives one more time, then we should probably get to know each other better.”

“Why?” she asked unsurely.

Rip thought about that long and hard. “Earlier you said this was my second chance, think of this as yours.”

“Why?” she asked again.

“Because everyone deserves one. Even you,” Rip said kindly. Gideon looked down, still feeling guilty of her crimes. Rip nudged her gently. “So, that drink?”

“Yes,” Gideon finally said with a curt nod.

“Good.” Rip smiled at her as they continued to dance. There was still a lot to think about. Whether they’d travel back and change time again, if they even could. But if this was a second chance, a ‘miracle’ as they called it, then Rip owed it all to Gideon. And he was going to embrace it fully, no matter what the future held.


End file.
